Remember, the first few episodes really do need to be mostly episodic to help draw in an audience and set up the characters and setting. Then they can start building up the mythos. Remember how Fringe started? Or Buffy?

Also, wtf ABC, that isn't remotely Incan architecture, nor is that an Incan artistic motif. Those look more "generic post-classic Central Mexican" and "weird Olmec/Mayan mishmash" respectively, than even Andean, much less Incan.

Remember, the first few episodes really do need to be mostly episodic to help draw in an audience and set up the characters and setting. Then they can start building up the mythos. Remember how Fringe started? Or Buffy?

Buffy S1 is pretty painful to watch, honestly. I'm so glad I started watching in S3 and then went back... else I'd have never stuck with it.

It only becomes REAL BUFFY, IMO, once we get to School Hard. And early days Spike.

A properly just me hating the genres those two shows represent with a deep passion. Fringe seems to just be a more out there X-Files and I could already not stand that show and Semi-Romantic Mythological Fantasy Mystery with a little Horror shows being so popular and flooding the market is what I blame Twilight and its ilk on. Though Buffy is way beyond stuff like Twilight simply alone because the acting and writing are actually pretty good.

Funny enough, friend on mine is currently writing his thesis on possible Roman settlers in China and India.

That's the crux of the issue! We have evidence up the wazoo that the Romans were in China (and vice versa). But there's absolutely zilch evidence the Inca had anything to do with Central America. If they had we'd be seeing it in the art, DNA, animal/plant remains, etc etc etc. But we take their land, live on top on top of their cities and wipe 90% of their population out with smallpox and don't have the gall to learn who they were.

Semi-Romantic Mythological Fantasy Mystery with a little Horror shows being so popular and flooding the market is what I blame Twilight and its ilk on. Though Buffy is way beyond stuff like Twilight simply alone because the acting and writing are actually pretty good.

You do realize that Buffy came along long before Twilight ruined literature and vampires forever. Buffy also blended the horror and teen drama genres in a way that defied most of the cliches of either.

Funny enough, friend on mine is currently writing his thesis on possible Roman settlers in China and India.

Huh, what are his lines of evidence? I know that caches of Roman coins have been found on the coast of Western India, which would indicate some level of trade, but I can't see actual groups of settlers founding Roman colonies out that far. Aside from them having to go through hostile Eastern polities (Parthians, later the Sassanians), these are the same Romans who didn't even bother to settle Ireland.

As someone who specializes in pre-modern long distance trade and contact, I do have my doubts about that. I mean, Rome and China knew of each, but from what I understand they were never able to establish official relations because of the distance involved and because Persia really didn't like the idea of those two getting chummy. Settlers would have an even tougher time. Plus, China seems a little too populated to be good for settling.

I recall reading an article recently about a translation of a Chinese book that gave a description of the Roman Empire; I don't believe that it indicated any 'official relations' but it was fairly detailed. (Comparatively, it was also a lot less full of bizarre nonsense than a lot of Western explorer travelogues - especially the well-regarded for his time John Mandeville).

There were a ton of people living in China long before Rome, unless you're referring to Tibet. There's not a lot of archaeology that has been done in Tibet for various political reasons, so we really don't know what was going on there. A lot of trade was done going through India and across the Arabian sea. The Chinese and Rome were certainly aware of each other -- even if we take the exchange of domesticated animals/plants out of the picture and inventions like paper, they were writing about each other and sending envoys back and forth. And India was certainly no stranger to Rome. I mean Rome's always got like, peacocks and stuff in their art. They were getting a lot of that from India.

Were there settlements? Probably not -- it's not like people weren't aware of property lines back then. There were people everywhere. Any Romans trying to settle as far out as China would have needed to be in communication with someone, either friend or foe. Unless there was some zany Roman Beverly Hillbilly situation, I doubt anyone but envoys and merchants were hanging around China too often.

Now one of you Classicists go make a Roman Beverly Hillbillies in China show.

Hah, so I was right to begin with then -- it was Mayan! See RC, I win.

Of course, that doesn't stop the comic fans in JCC from wondering what exactly the big deal is... I get that it's just a TV show, but you'd think that if they did just enough research to namedrop local geography (like the "Sacred Valley") that they could do a basic google search on what an Incan temple looks like. I guess I'm glad they didn't use teepees or something.

As someone who specializes in pre-modern long distance trade and contact, I do have my doubts about that. I mean, Rome and China knew of each, but from what I understand they were never able to establish official relations because of the distance involved and because Persia really didn't like the idea of those two getting chummy. Settlers would have an even tougher time. Plus, China seems a little too populated to be good for settling.

Parthia, actually -- the high point of Roman-Chinese trade was during the early Empire, during which the Parthians jealously prevented any official contact between the two. However, they were aware enough of each other for Roman mapmakers to have a reasonably accurate if hilariously distorted map of the east -- heck, the Romans were aware of the Japanese and some of the Indonesian islands as well, mostly because that's where they got spices and stuff from.

India and the Roman Empire did actually have official contacts: Livy reports that ambassadors from India met with Augustus.

Anyway, as for settlers... doubtless there were unofficial travelers and the like. Merchants definitely traveled as far as India and China, it's just that official representatives never did. We know this because Roman coins have been found in India in large enough quantities to suggest more than just trade was going on. There are also the persistent stories of ex-Crassan soldiers settling in China after Carrhae. More definitively, Hellenistic Greeks from Bactria definitely settled into India and provided the locals with a flavor for more realistic looking Greek-style figures while importing concepts like the Buddha, lions, peacocks, and Asiatic tigers back to the Mediterranean... as well as Buddhist and Hindu philosophy.

You do realize that Buffy came along long before Twilight ruined literature and vampires forever. Buffy also blended the horror and teen drama genres in a way that defied most of the cliches of either.

Of course I know, but the stuff has not gone away since then and it keeps getting worse.

Huh, what are his lines of evidence? I know that caches of Roman coins have been found on the coast of Western India, which would indicate some level of trade, but I can't see actual groups of settlers founding Roman colonies out that far. Aside from them having to go through hostile Eastern polities (Parthians, later the Sassanians), these are the same Romans who didn't even bother to settle Ireland.

I'll ask him when we meet again. Though I think it will properly be stuff like Jello mentioned.